London is calling and the fashion world is picking up. This season, there’s an excitement for London fashion week that had perhaps slipped away in recent years as the industry, like the rest of the world, shifted to work around the pandemic and moved away from the IRL fanfare and celebration of creativity that used to rip roar through the capital twice a year.
The coming spring/summer 2023 show season is primed to be a return to form; a renaissance of a time when the schedule felt packed to the rafters - a heady mix of the newly graduated upstarts and stalwart brands that has long made London Fashion Week special. Editors, buyers and industry insiders can once again expect to move from catwalk show to presentation venue witnessing first hand the full breadth of creativity that is currently cultivated in London at the six-day event, which is set to take place from Thursday 16th to Tuesday 20th September.
London once made its name as the greatest incubator of young talent, thanks to brilliant support from initiatives like Fashion East, but London Fashion Week has always needed to rely on a little sprinkle of star power to ensure that top buyers and editors land on British soil during the September and February schedules. It's why, when in 2009, Christopher Bailey decided to bring Burberry (or Burberry Prorsum as the catwalk collection was then called) back to London there was much excitement and an A-list allure that brought such as Kanye West and the Olsen twins to the immaculate tent on the manicured lawns of Kensington Gardens.
And the same might be said of this season too. Burberry, now under the helm of Riccardo Tisci, might look a little different, but it still holds its place as London Fashion Week’s biggest power player. Already in 2022, it's noted a 21 per cent rise in revenue to £2.83 billion. After a few seasons dancing to the beat of its own drum (it last played host to its new legion of A-listers in March, away from the official schedule), it’s back in the literal primetime slot of 6pm on Saturday evening. Tisci is anticipated to continue his spree of bringing a contemporary spin to the heritage house’s long established codes once again, ensuing a line up of supermodels that will drop everything and fly across channels to appear for their dear pal, Riccardo.
Burberry isn’t the only much-anticipated return to the calendar. Enter: Jonathan Anderson. After lockdown-induced lookbooks and a spell at Paris Fashion Week, London’s wunderkind returns to where it all began by placing his JW Anderson show at the relatively late-night time slot of 8pm on Saturday. Anticipated to be taking place in a riveting central London location in close proximity to its Soho store, how will Anderson’s aesthetic have evolved? Nestled back home, could this safe space allow his creativity to run wilder and more brilliant than before or will the return to the capital see him riffing on pillars of British culture?
One such designer that is feeling the excitement and is anticipated to reference much of London’s influence is Daniel W. Fletcher, who will open London Fashion Week with his show on Thursday 16th. 'I had the opening spot for spring/summer 2019 which was my first ever runway so this feels like an extra special moment for me,' he tells ELLE. 'The brand is in a really different place to what it was then, so I’m excited to show that evolution. The collection is sort of a celebration of my 10 years living in London and all the things that I’ve learned here, everyone that’s inspired me during that time, as well as those who came before to make London what it is today.'
The opportunity that London Fashion Week brings in allowing more up-and-coming names to show in such close proximity to stalwart legends isn’t lost on Fletcher. 'The mix of emerging talent and heritage brands is something that makes LFW very unique and this season there is such a strong mix of both. It’s got me (and everyone else by the sounds of it) very excited.'
Another name of note on the schedule that you might not have anticipated to see is Raf Simons. The Prada co-creative director is bringing his sleek, much-loved eponymous label to the British capital and with it the gentle elevation and confirmation that London, with Simons’ approval, is a fashion capital worth pulling up to. Nothing new to those of us at ELLE UK, of course.
It would also be remiss of us to glaze over the wealth of brilliant brands that are no longer upstarts nor glossy behemoths, but instead the proud purveyors of confident business models and recognisable signatures that offer a more rounded proposition — many of which happen to be headed up by brilliant women. From Simone Rocha to Priya Ahluwalia, Roksanda to Emilia Wickstead, Rejina Pyo to Molly Goddard, many of the most exciting shows at London Fashion Week come boasting female names, including for the first time this season, Chopova Lowena.
Spring/summer 2023 marks the first catwalk show for one-time CSM classmates Emma Chopova and Laura Lowena. Their unique excitement is a reminder of how important showing on schedule can be for a brand. 'We feel like it's the first time people can step into our world and see the clothing in motion on some of our friends and past collaborators,' they shared with ELLE. 'It feels like an important step for our brand to be showcased in this way and we are really excited for it to come together. It will be a really special moment for us and we hope it is for the audience as well.' Expect this arriving crowd to be true street style catnip as they swathe in in the brand’s signature folklorish tartan pieces and voluminous shapes.
With six days of shows approaching, it’s safe to say that we’re ready to be hooked once again on the brilliance that is British fashion. Whether we’re sitting waiting to see S.S. Daley’s first show post-LVMH Prize win, admiring 16Arlington’s inevitably shimmering creations or Chet Lo breaking out of the Fashion East hatchery solo for the first time, London’s certainly going to prove its place on the fashion map.
